The potential buyers are private equity bidders.
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A couple of you are missing a crucial fact - programming costs take up most of the DIRECTV revenue and revenue is declining. The profit drivers of the business are Mobility and Broadband. A sale of DIRECTV assets allows the company to reinvest in higher profit areas. Selling DIRECTV while it still has value is smart, even if it takes the same id–t who bought DIRECTV in the first place to do it.
Hello @1opo+16Ff54bV,
You know why? Because AT&T management are dumba$$ losers. That's why.
Sixteen billion times an average bill of 75 dollars a month equals One point two BIllions a month times twelve is twelve Billion dollars a year times five years equals about sixty Billion!Wake up folks,Directv is paid for already!Why in the world would anyone in their right mind want to sell a business that brings in that kind of money a month?I am aware of operation cost but just something for Directv haters to think about!Drop Mic!
People forget that much of the DTV assets is tied to Latin America and South America. Getting out of these jurisdictions - spanning several countries - alone will greatly simplify the business and reduce cost. No matter how stupid the purchase - and it was stupid - reducing cost of maintaining the business and sharpening the focus of the company would be a win. To put this in perspective, $20B would allow the company to retire 667 Million shares and stop paying $1.2B in dividends a year, in addition to costs that are nearly as high as revenue. That will increase earnings per share.
Peace out, DTV. We hardly knew ya.
They need to get rid of this losing business ASAP. Stankey should be punished for the acquisition. I keep hearing from DTV lovers that they have millions of subs and so much cash flow, etc..... pagers, flip phones, mapquest, etc. all had millions of subs. But current in the market conditions DBS is a slowly dying business.
AT&T was such an amazing company during the old times with Bell Labs it changed the world - what shame that people like Stankey have been in charge to ruin the company.
It'll be announced before year end.
worth 7 billion max, Bottom line: Be aware that its efforts could fail. Only take a leap if you are willing to bet that AT&T can see this through within your investment horizon, which I doubt, Cuz we have Stankey in charge of the Titanic.
"Any deal for the satellite TV service would be sizable, but likely a far cry from the $49 billion AT&T ( T ) paid for it in 2015. The pay-TV unit has lost millions of subscribers in recent years as viewers switch to on-demand entertainment services like Netflix Inc."
No they lost customers because att in their infinite wisdom demonstrated day in and day out they could care less about their customer and they only want their money because att is ran like a cesspool led by cover you behind greedy senior leadership. Why would anyone deal with their billing and web site is beyond me.
The telecom and media giant and its advisers at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. have been in talks with private-equity suitors about the satellite TV unit, some of the people said. Potential bidders include Apollo Global Management Inc. ( APO ), which had expressed interest last year, and Platinum Equity, these people said.
Any deal for the satellite TV service would be sizable, but likely a far cry from the $49 billion AT&T ( T ) paid for it in 2015. The pay-TV unit has lost millions of subscribers in recent years as viewers switch to on-demand entertainment services like Netflix Inc. A deal could value the business below $20 billion, some of the people said.
If a deal is reached, it would start to streamline a company that used a series of acquisitions in the last decade to shift from a phone service provider into a media conglomerate. It also left the enlarged AT&T with roughly $180 billion of net debt.